Lead Author, The HCAHPS Imperative for Patient-Centered Excellence

Tag: CAHPS Survey

This week I had two humbling opportunities to contribute to the national patient experience dialogue and share deep convictions for compassion in health care. Gregg Loughman, General Manager & Vice President of PX Solutions at HealthStream, and I presented a webinar series, hosted by The Beryl Institute, on the CAHPS Imperative for Patient-Centered Care. I also had the honor to travel to New York City for an interview with CBS News to discuss the impact of surveys in improving the patient experience.

By Establishing the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Survey, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) took bold and progressive steps to spark a conversation about the importance of every patient having a voice in the quality of care received. Until that point, the patient experience was considered a “nice to do” and now the patient experience is among the top priorities for healthcare executives, staff and providers.

Whether you love or hate any patient experience survey, they have been designed by patients and their loved ones to convey the behaviors that reflect quality care. There is no doubt that working to achieve the level that “Always” or “Best Possible Hospital” requires; however most times we would want those same criteria for our loved ones. We cannot have two separate standards for what we would want and what we provide.

The CAHPS Surveys were never designed for organizations and caregivers to chase scores or penalize. They were created to capture feedback on the total health care experience and give data to help develop competencies that lead to safer, higher quality care. The feedback creates opportunities to celebrate the best in our organizations and improve reliability at the bedside.

Recent research that I have had the opportunity to conduct has demonstrated that high performing cultures lead to a more engaged workforce, better patient experience performance, lower turnover rates and more favorable performance with value-based care measures. I encourage everyone to take the CAHPS Survey that most applies to their work area. Take the survey from the shoes, slippers and gowns of your patients. Use this as an opportunity to talk about why the patient experience matters in your organization. To me, the government never needed to mandate compassion but their progressive steps created recognition that compassion is a human imperative- every person, every time.

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Thinking of all the strong, powerful women on the CPQCC staff and at our member hospitals who work tirelessly to ensure that every pregnant woman and infant in California is given an equal chance to thrive. Today and every day we #Pressforprogress #IWD2018